His Queen

chapter 42

Junnut’s POV

We had been travelling for hours now, I was already tired and hungry, I was not accustomed to riding on a horse, I had only ridden horses for pleasure and even when I had taken the journey to Atrabad from Marwa, I had ridden in a close carriage, there had never been a reason for me to travel long distance on horseback and right now, my thighs were already sore, I groaned softly as I tried to find a comfortable position,

This sound which I made seemed to have attracted the attention of my companion because he turned to me and said “Is anything the matter my lady?”

I turned to look at him, he had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and there a smile on his handsome face, for a few seconds, I found myself spellbound by his eyes and smile, but I quickly got hold of my senses, I cleared my throat nervously and said “I am just a little uncomfortable with riding a horse for so long, I am not quite used to it”

He looked at me for a while before he said “You surprise me at times my lady”, then he turned his eyes straight ahead,

He still called me “my lady” even after I had pointedly told him not to refer to me as such, I was no lady, I was simply a maid no matter how kind Banafsha was to me, I never forgot my place, I was of low birth and could never dream of a position as high as that of the general’s wife, I simply could not, I knew this but why did my heart fail to understand this? My heart always beat widely in my chest when he was close by, even now, it beat widely, he was looking straight ahead, his eyes were not on me giving me a small chance to really look at him,

He was really a specimen of creation with his high cheekbones and strong square jaw, with long pointed nose and well-proportioned forehead, his eyes were deeply set and his eyebrows were well defined and his lips……..

“Do I interest you so much that you have to stare so long at me?” his deep voice pulled me out of whatever trance I had fallen into when staring at him,

Feeling embarrassed that I had been caught staring, I turned away from him, I felt his eyes on me and I didn’t even have to look at him to know that he was smiling, I said nothing and I was praying that he will also remain quiet but I could never be so lucky when general Nihal Jaan was involved,

“So tell me, were you impressed by what you saw?” he said,

I simply exhaled and said “Don’t you that is a rather improper question to ask a woman?”

He chuckled and said “And I think some people will find it very improper to stare, don’t you think you so my lady?”

“I have asked you stop calling me that my lord, I am no lady, I am a simple maid and nothing more” I said,

“You behave better than most ladies than I know so there is nothing wrong if I refer to you as my lady” he said casually,

“That is a tittle reserved only for noble ladies, and I am definitely not a woman of noble birth” I said, turning to look at him, I saw no reason why this was supposed to be an issue worth arguing over, it had always been so,

He was smiling when he said “You seem to possess a short temper my lady”

I ignored him and turned straight ahead, praying that he had the decency to stop talking to me,

“We will be travelling together for a while, so we have talk to each other no matter, I will keep speaking to you even if you do not wish to speak to me because I refuse to die of boredom” he said, his voice sounded very matter of fact,

I sighed, obviously decency was not something the general possessed, since I already knew he will keep talking to me even if didn’t reply, it was obvious I had no choice but to talk to him,

Turning to face him, I said “Tell me my lord, what is it that you will like to discuss with me?”

A smile lit up his handsome face and my heart almost deserted me at the sight “Tell me about your life in Marwa, every single thing you did while you there? He said, the smile on his face lent him a boyish look making him look even more handsome than he was already was,

This man was bad for my well-being and I was not sure for how long I could resist his charms.

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General Nihal Jaan’s POV

She been reluctant and uninterested in talking to me at first but soon enough, she could not stop talking about Marwa at all, she told of how much she loved it there and all the things she did there, I learnt that she had been taught how to use a sword by the queen and general Jawhar, she must be really close with them, I did not fail to notice how she spoke of them with a kind of fond regard, it really was not difficult to see that she really cared for them, she spoke of them as one spoke of a very close family member.

I had felt weary when I had watched the exchange between she and general Jawhar earlier when he had come to wish her a safe journey, I had watched the exchange between them with a frown and I could swear I saw a similar one on Humair’s face when they included queen Banafsha into the discussion, general Jawhar seemed to be a man beloved by the women in his life, but if I was to believe all the rumors I heard from the soldiers of Marwa, he was in love with queen Banafsha and not Junnut so he definitely Humair’s problem and not mine.

I looked at Junnut as she kept talking animatedly about her hometown, her large eyes were shinning with mirth and happiness, I was longer listening to her now, I was simply lost in her beauty as she spoke with a great passion,

“You miss Marwa don’t you?” I suddenly asked her,

She turned to look at me, a faint smile was playing on her lips when she said “I will be a liar to say that I do not, I miss Marwa so very much and her people, the only people I see now from Marwa are Jawhar and Banafsha”

“You must be close to the queen for you to speak so casually with her” I said, I had noticed that she referred to her as Banafsha and not queen Banafsha as she was supposed to,

“A smile lit up her face “ Banafsha has always been very kind to me, we are almost the same age and I had been brought to her as a companion when she was just 10 and I had been 11 then, she had immediately treated me as a friend, she had made sure we did everything together and soon enough we became the best of friends and after we both lost our families, we became even closer and have remained so ever since” she said,

The queen of Marwa sounded a nice person when Junnut spoke of her so I wondered why she was she was so nasty to the king, she had always treated him with contempt and scorn, it was the only side of her I had ever seen so I found it a little hard to believe she possessed such kindness.

“Well forgive me if I say that the queen Banafsha you speak of sounds nothing like the queen Banafsha I have seen” I said,

I watched as a small sad smile spread on her face “She has been through a lot and time and consequences has turned her into a woman with so much pride, she is not as brash as she lets on, she has struggled and has forgotten the girl she once was, she was once princess Banafsha, the treasured daughter of the king and queen and over night, she had suddenly become Queen Banafsha Ifza, the queen of Marwa and she was alone, Jawhar had been her strongest support in those days, he stayed and fought with her, he had practically taught her everything he knew nad together, they had revived Marwa” she said,

She was looking very sad now and I felt pity for whole of them, they had been children and they had all been forced to grow up so suddenly, my life had been difficult but at least, I hadn’t had to rule a kingdom at a young age and survive all the trials while at it, I was now beginning to understand their relationship now and I almost felt bad for general Jawhar, honestly if I was in his situation, I could only imagine how much I would have hated Humair but nothing could be done now, she was already married to Humair now, these three had been dealt a nasty hand by fate indeed.

“I now understand why you are also close, you only have each other and it must be terrible to live here in Atrabad now and lose everything you had all worked hard for” I said,

She simply shrugged and said “We can’t change what’s been done, we can only try to do make do with the hand we have been dealt, the only thing I feel bad about is how Banafsha and Jawhar ended, it was very sad and I feel bad for Jawhar”

I suddenly felt the need to defend Humair “The king of Atrabad is a good man and he cares for the queen so very much, I do not doubt that he will do right by her” I said, my voice sounding more defensive than I would have liked,

She must have noticed it as well because she quickly said “I do not have any doubt that the king is a good man and I have seen firsthand how much he cares for Banafsha, heaven only knows how difficult she can be sometimes but he has been nothing but patient with her and I only pray that she opens her heart to him soon, I truly believe the king can make her happy”

“And what of you?” do you not seek happiness?” I asked, I had always been a man that asked what was on his mind, this question seemed to have surprised her because her eyes widened then she quickly looked away from me to stare at the road ahead,

I almost thought she would not answer the question but she finally said “My place is beside Banafsha and that is all”

“If you stay with me, you will always be her by side, you will never have to leave her since I noticed that she do not wish to do so” I said, matter of factly,

She turned to look at me quickly “You really are straight forward and with your intentions are you general?” she said,

I threw her a careless smile “I Had always been of the opinion that life is too short to spend time pinning over action would have solved” I said with a casual shrug of my shoulders,

She said nothing and returned her eyes to the road ahead.

“I will not deny that I find you attractive in many ways, you are strong and beautiful and very caring to the people you care about, if you give me a chance, I will make you happy, I know I can” I said,

Her large eye were wide when she turned to me “I cannot accept what you offering, I simply cannot” she said,

“And why can’t you? I see nothing holding you back” I said, I was resisting the urge to run my hand through my hair right now, this woman was tiring,

“I am a maid and nothing more and you are the general of a great army” she said and I saw a hint of sadness in her eyes,

“Do tittles really mean so much to you?” I said somewhat bitterly,

Something unreadable flashed in her eyes but it was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared, then she finally said “I am sorry general, but I cannot accept your what you propose and I hope that you will be kind enough to not bring this issue up again in the future because my answer will remain the same”

With those words she pushed her horse to a gallop and rode ahead of me, leaving me alone to wonder if all Marwan women were so hardheaded.